Holder: Justice Dept. Will Contest Texas Redistricting

Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in late June that weakened the Voting Rights Act, Attorney General Eric Holder says the Justice Department will use what’s left of the law to go after what it considers discriminatory practices.

And the first target will be Texas, in a dispute over new boundaries drawn by the Republican legislature for congressional and legislative districts.

Holder told National Urban League this morning that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division will urge a federal judge in Texas to subject the State of Texas to a pre-clearance regime similar to the one required by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act — a part of the law that survived the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“This request to ‘bail in’ the state — and require it to obtain pre-approval from either the department or a federal court before implementing future voting changes — is available under the Voting Rights Act when intentional voting discrimination is found,” he said.